Shadowbox Flies Update

The 14 hopper flies are mounted! Whew! Glad that's over g. Thanks to
Jeremy Moe and Sandy for their input.

Shadowbox flies are three dimensional where streamer flies mounted in
picture frames are just two dimensional. Since a key advantage of this
pattern is the fish view under abdomen cross tie, the fly's bottom is easily
seen when looking through the shadow box glass from either side. The
purpose of this shadowbox is a gift to my son which he can use as a fly
fishing and tying educational tool in his place of business.

The shadow box is 12" x 12" and my printer prints 8 1/2" x 11" landscape so
I had to splice two sheets to get a 11" x 12" template. Using Jeremy's print
on paper with cut and paste technique, the headings and printing come out
fine. My scrapbooking wife and daughter also urged printing on raised paper
to add "interest" - it worked. I tried printing on a Avery 8 1/2 x 11" label
sheet but it was too difficult to apply correctly. After she applied the
small double edge tape pieces to hold down the heading paper strips, I ran a
thin bead of Loctite Gel superglue, before pressing down on each heading
backing which will keep the heading paper strips from ever coming off.

The mounting technique has worried me from the git-go. Two dimensional flies
are easy to mount - just glue the back of the fly to the board. Here each
fly must be away from the board and lined up evenly in appearance. Hooks
always work loose from cork and I'm leery of glue dots and glue gun
adhesives holding. Sandy's advice of being able to remove them dictated a
way to tighten and readjust them if they work loose helped me decide.

Zinc and stainless steel bolts stick out and are seen too easily. So I used
a slotted round head #6 3/8" long brass machine bolt with hex nut (not easy
to find) to tighten and re-tighten if needed. To keep the back from touching
a wall, I put two hex nuts on each bolt, cut off the end and filed ends
flush with the 2nd hex nut. This shortened each bolt. In order to mount each
fly into the bolt head, first I inserted the fly bend into my fly tying
vise, and inserted the bolt into a vertical alligator clip. Next by putting
books under it, I raised the alligator clip until the bolt head slot fit
snugly under the hook barb and point. Last I ran a bead of Loctite Gel into
the slot and reinserted it under the hook barb and point and let it dry 3-4
hours. Five minute epoxy would probably have been just as good but the dried
Loctite Gel did not show and my wife said the mount did not detract from the
flies. Whew! A bodkin followed by an ice pick nicely punched holes in the
backing. The nuts easily tightened each fly mounting very securely which was
a very pleasant surprise! Plus they can be re-tightened if ever necessary.
It's good to be doneg.

Good luck!
John